Why Are the More Capable and Self-Disciplined Supervisors Often at Higher Risk of Becoming Workplace Bullies?

“I lead by example, take the lead myself, hold myself to strict standards before holding others to the same standards, and I do not apply double standards. What is wrong with that?”

In my experience handling workplace bullying matters, there is one category of supervisors who are a high-risk group precisely because they lack awareness of the problem. They are often the backbone of the company, the hardworking “workaholic” type. They are the first to arrive at the office and the last to leave. They work overtime later than anyone else and approach their work with the noble principles of leading by example, taking the lead, and holding themselves to strict standards before expecting the same of others.

However, in recent years, these highly self-disciplined mid- to senior-level supervisors who pursue perfection almost to the point of harshness have frequently appeared on the headache list of corporate HR departments receiving workplace bullying complaints.

This is a very cruel paradox in modern corporate management. These supervisors are filled with confusion and grievance: I do more than anyone else and am stricter with myself than with anyone else, so why have I ended up becoming a tyrant in the eyes of employees? From the perspective of law and modern management, it is precisely because they believe too strongly in these traditional virtues once regarded as golden rules that they fall into the trap of illegality.

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Based on my observations, supervisors most commonly fall into the following seven blind spots:

1. The projection effect creates an empathy gap

The most common logic among this type of supervisor is: “I can do it, so why can’t you?”

They are used to projecting their own physical limits, stress tolerance, and values directly onto all subordinates.

At the legal level, this causes supervisors, when exercising managerial authority, to completely ignore the physiological and psychological differences among individual workers. When an employee’s performance falls short of expectations, and the supervisor instinctively concludes that the employee lacks dedication and therefore imposes unreasonable pressure, such management conduct lacking empathy can easily be characterized in the twenty-first-century workplace as an abuse of authority and a form of workplace bullying.

2. The halo blind spot of moral superiority

Another type of supervisor believes that because they have truly taken the lead and endured hardship themselves, they have built a strong sense of moral superiority.

They believe that since they themselves have suffered, their harsh criticism and excessive demands toward employees are legitimate actions for the good of the team and for the good of their colleagues. This psychological defense mechanism makes them completely disconnected from the pain or resistance shown by subordinates.

Often, they only realize that their high-pressure methods have already crossed the line of reasonable work under the Occupational Safety and Health Act when they receive a formal notice from the dedicated unit handling workplace bullying complaints.

3. Rough communication creates a hostile work environment

Supervisors who are strict with themselves often become direct, sharp, and even personally derogatory in their language when pursuing efficiency.

For example, they may openly scold someone in a meeting: “How many times have I demonstrated this already? Did you even bring your brain to work today? Is this really the level of someone who graduated from a top university?”

The supervisor may think this is merely iron-fisted motivation. However, continuous verbal humiliation, public isolation, or deliberate harassment will completely undermine the team’s sense of psychological safety and may satisfy the elements of mental harm caused by verbal violence.

4. Confusing personal choices with the boundaries of the employment contract

A supervisor may be willing to sacrifice family life for the company and respond to senior management messages 24 hours a day, even on weekends. That is the supervisor’s personal career choice.

However, when the supervisor forcibly converts such personal high moral standards into performance evaluations or daily expectations imposed on subordinates, it becomes a disguised form of emotional blackmail.

New-generation employees place greater emphasis on work-life balance. If a supervisor gives a low performance rating simply because a subordinate is unable to comply with work assignments outside working hours, the supervisor may already have exceeded the reasonable scope of management.

5. Micromanagement slides into abuse of power

A personality that is strict with oneself and strict with others can easily evolve into meticulous control over every detail.

Driven by an obsession with perfection, a supervisor may unreasonably monitor every detail of a subordinate’s work, or deliberately adjust the employee’s duties and reduce resources when there is no necessity to do so.

This type of micromanagement, carried out under the name of performance improvement but functioning in reality as psychological torment, may well be interpreted as a form of workplace bullying through improper interference with duties.

6. Ignoring statutory obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act

Many workaholic supervisors see only performance and output, while completely lacking awareness of legal risks.

Under the workplace bullying chapter of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers bear strict duties to prevent workplace bullying.

When a supervisor adopts excessively harsh and unreasonable management methods, and higher-level supervisors or HR personnel fail to intervene and correct the conduct in time, both the enterprise and the individual supervisor may face severe administrative penalties and legal liability imposed by the competent authority.

7. Blind pursuit of iron discipline harms employees’ physical and mental health

The most serious legal crisis for this type of supervisor lies in the fact that the intensity of improper management may exceed what an ordinary person can physically and mentally endure.

When an employee develops depression, anxiety disorder, or other mental illness due to long-term public humiliation, excessive working hours, or deliberate tests imposed by a supervisor, this may legally be recognized as an occupational accident caused by work.

At that point, an iron-fisted supervisor is no longer contributing to the company. Instead, the supervisor may drag the enterprise into substantial damages litigation, resulting in far more harm than benefit.

Attorney Chen Yeh-Shin’s Reminder

Times have truly changed.

The iron-fisted executive and model labor supervisor once admired in the past may, in today’s era of heightened labor rights awareness and emphasis on work-life balance, become not a hero but a co-defendant who drags the company into trouble if they fail to adjust their management mindset in time.

Management is an art of balance. Strict performance standards must be built upon respect for human dignity and legal boundaries. An outstanding supervisor must not only know how to lead by example, but also understand how to transform from an iron-fisted commander into a guiding coach. Do not allow your passion and noble principles to become, unintentionally, weapons that harm subordinates and seriously damage the company’s image.

When facing the new generation of employees, as you demand performance, are you also unknowingly using the iron standards of your own past to push your subordinates, yourself, and the company together toward an unbearable abyss?